I absolutely love the LLN. Favourites are Torgeist, Brenoritvrezorkre, and Belketre. Some of it is shit. Like Uatrb Velepr, Satanicum Tenebrae, and Vzaeurvbtre. Listen to the latter for a few good laughs. I love it that Vermeth was created a few years back. Beleth Rim made Your Ruin...sound so authentic LLN!

I hate the fact that most of the shit out there is bootlegs. I recently paid over 40 dollars for 'The Dark Promise'. Got it and new instantly it was bullshit. To everyone seeking out their material: Unless Drakkar released it (and sometimes even then) Its A Fucking Bootleg!!! Once in a while an original copy floats around eBay, Discogs and even saw one on Amazon, but expect to pay a good $150-$300 a copy.

Got both Torgeist demos, Mutiilations 'Vampire...' and a few others. Fun stuff!

I don't see the point of financially supporting Drakkar Prods, it is widely known that the boss Noktu is a bootlegger, thanks to recent revelations about his implication in Tragic Empire Recs. He probably doesn't own any original master tape from these re-issues, whose sound and image quality must be similar to a copy. Anyway...

I always ranked Torgeist under Vlad Tepes and Belkètre. Torgeist's music is more primitive, it's efficient but not extraordinary. Vlad Tepes and Belkètre created each a unique and powerful ambiance.

Zodijackyl may be right about a bandmember learning the drums from the beginning of the band on, at least concerning Vlad Tepes and Belkètre (same drummer?). They probably began as 3 or 4-piece bands and ended as duets with one member handling the drums after the departure of session drummer.

Mütiilation was essentially a one-man-band (Willy Roussel) who was joined by various session bassists and drummers according to the release, or used a drum machine. Being a one-man-band changes a lot in the composition and recording process. In Mütiilation, it can clearly be heard that the music is composed with guitars, upon which a drum line is set afterwards. That's why Vampires of Black Imperial Blood lacks proper transitions, and that's why Mütiilation ranks under Vlad Tepes and Belkètre in my opinion, even if Willy Roussel is or was a great black metal songwriter (especially when it comes to dissonant, morbid and twisted black'n'roll riffs). He really had in his composition technique a gift for rock'n'roll-like few-notes-gimmicks (like in "Under Ardailles Night"), except the scale he used had nothing to do with typical blues-rock major scale, or even minor (it was more dissonant). He also had a certain way to play guitar notes. Trying to cover Mütiilation on the guitar is not so easy, even when you kinda manage to figure the accurate notes.

Vlad Tepes started out with Nifleim on drums, but he only played on the first demo/rehearsal, after which Wlad took over drums on all subsequent demos. Vordb always drummed for Belketre. He wasn't a half-bad drummer in all honesty. Sure, he wasn't overly technical, but he could pull out good fills and speed. I'd venture to guess both played drums before they started their respective bands, but who knows really.

_________________Winds and storms embrace us now
Lay waste the light of day
Open gates to darker lands
We spread our wings and fly away

It's funny, because Wlad and Vordb had the same playing style, and even did the same kind of mistakes (getting tired during blastbeats for example).

As a sidenote, Vordb used the alias Avaëthre at some point. He released a useless noise/ambiant demo under this alias in 1995. This is a perfect illustration of what I posted earlier: the Black Legions consisted of 3 or 4 main great bands, plus countless useless obscure single-demo (or single-song) side-projects with unpronounceable names.

Today, people tend to talk more about all these useless side-projects than about the main great bands themselves, because of this wicked rarity speculation phenomenon. Some people who read this thread haven't even listened to Vlad Tepes ever, which is a shame considering the huge impact that Vlad Tepes had on the international black metal scene. Many best-selling BM bands (such as Satanic Warmaster, Sombre Chemin or Peste Noire) were overtly inspired by Vlad Tepes.

Finally found this while searching for LLN stuff. I agree, I think the best projects are Mutiilation (despite getting kicked out), Belketre, and Vlad Tepes. I'd also add Vermyapre Kommando for just being so damn weird. Haven't gotten to listening to Torgeist or Moevot yet, but soon I shall, then I can give a proper review. Barely listened to Aakon Keetreh, so I can't say much, same with the ambient projects. But, as I have read, I feel inclined to avoid them. They sound pretty terrible. I'm all for black metal that is bizarre, raw, and/or has obscenely terrible production, but I just don't feel inclined to attempt the other more obscure side projects. I'd definitely say that Mutiilation, especially the early stuff (Vampires of Black Imperial Blood, Remains of a Ruined, Dead,Cursed Soul, Black Millenium, even Majestas Leprous is good for me, though WAY past LLN era) is some of my favorite black metal out there. So depressing and wonderful. Vlad Tepes is very close to Mutiilation, then Belketre. Well, maybe Vermyapre ahead of Belketre, depending on my mood. But whatever. I think the main bands that most people seem to know are that way for a reason: they're actually good. So much has faded away, many of the ambient side projects, much of which appear to be crap. Overall though, I feel that LLN is damn good stuff. An acquired taste, yes, as is raw black metal in general. But, overall, worth the praise for the most part.

As for physical releases, agreed, unless it's Mutiilation, I'd say they're damn near impossible to find. Just stick to downloading it or youtube. Personally, these bands have been defunct for so long that I'd highly doubt that ANYONE would truly care if you did. I understand the lust for a physical album, but you WILL have to pay a lot, more than likely.

And yes, Satanic Warmaster way copied the stylization of the symbols used. Especially Moevot, from what I've seen.

I hate the fact that most of the shit out there is bootlegs. I recently paid over 40 dollars for 'The Dark Promise'. Got it and new instantly it was bullshit. To everyone seeking out their material: Unless Drakkar released it (and sometimes even then) Its A Fucking Bootleg!!! Once in a while an original copy floats around eBay, Discogs and even saw one on Amazon, but expect to pay a good $150-$300 a copy.

Which makes me wonder are LLN fans actually buying the distro's for the music or simply for that elistism aspect of being able to say they've got copy # out of 250 in their collection. Personally LLN doesn't do anything for me, just a group of teens in France who got bored and decided to create a format already done to death in Norway, Sweden, Russia, etc. Save your pennies and buy something that's actually good.

I already expressed my point about Drakkar, I think they're not worth supporting.

Anyway, I listened to Torgeist recently, and found Devoted to Satan extremely bad. Then I understood why I had never listened to Torgeist for all these years, while I literally worshipped the whole Vlad Tepes and Belkètre discography.

Torgeist was just an average band. Time of Sabbath is a good primitive black metal demo, with raw production and simplistic riffs. But Devoted to Satan is a very bad first demo. Uninspired riffs, beginner drumming, exceedingly present vocals, I really can't figure out why nobody never flamed this demo in a review.

Even the first Lord of Evil demo (which is not great to say the least) is better than Devoted to Satan.

The LLN doesn't exactly receive "glory" anymore, and haven't since around 2005. The mystery (and, by extension, the novelty) of the LLN projects has mostly diminished now that there's quite a bit of information about them available online.

Most people are a lot more realistic about the artists' quality now - they'll disregard most of the LLN projects as trash, but then they'll like Mutiilation and Vlad Tepes and then some random other band like Brenoritvrezorkre or Aakon Keetreh. I personally think Vagezaryavtre were the best, or at least the most interesting...quite the brilliant concept they had going but it's not exactly executed properly.

I disagree, I routinely see hip crust kids sporting LLN shirts or patches and talking about the bands like they are the greatest thing ever - which I think is very far from the truth. The stuff also goes for buckets on eBay and the related sites. Never got in to more than Vampires of Black Imperial Blood. And I personally think all the ambient stuff is crap.

Joined: Tue May 17, 2005 3:56 pmPosts: 64Location: United States of America

Posted: Sun Dec 08, 2013 12:48 am

I thought Amaka Hahina were excellent. I wonder what the Vlad Tepes guys are up to? I know Lord Beleth'Rim has been around similar to Meyhnach. Vermeth is good too. Belketre was amazing. But the whereabouts of Keetreh and the VT brothers really interest me.